The invention relates to a contact element made of stamped and rolled sheet-metal material and having a contact-making section, a conductor-connecting section, and a fastening section for fastening the contact element in a receiving chamber in an insulating body.
Contact elements of this kind are used in order, for example, to pass on currents from a current source to the consumer in the electrical system of a motor vehicle.
It is known practice, in the automotive engineering field, to use contact elements, which are produced as stamped bending contacts, for transmitting currents. However, this is only possible in the case of relatively low current intensities, since major heating-up of the contact material and, in particular, of the fastening material occurs in the case of high currents.
The underlying object of this invention is therefore to construct a contact element of the initially mentioned type in such a way that the transmission of high current intensities is ensured and the heating-up of the contact elements and fastening material is reduced to a minimum.
The object of this invention is achieved through the fact that there is pushed on, over the fastening section of the contact element, a sleeve which is at a radial distance from the said fastening section.
Advantageous refinements are indicated in claims 2 to 10.
The advantages obtained with the aid of the invention consist, in particular, in the fact that, because of the radial distance of an overlapping sleeve on the fastening section of the contact element, only moderate transmission of heat to the material of the receiving chamber in the insulating body occurs. Under these circumstances, constant dissipation of heat is obtained as a result of the permanent circulation of air through the cavities in the contact elements which are stamped and shaped from sheet-metal material.
Further advantages of the invention lie in the fact that the plugging-in forces of the pin contact have gentle resilience during the initial plugging-in operation and a heightened spring tension is present during the rest of the plugging-in operation, the spring characteristic having a progressive development.
Furthermore, components produced in this way represent a cost-effective alternative to solid contact elements.
An exemplified embodiment is represented in the drawings and will be explained in greater detail below. In the said drawings: